About 50 LGBT activists and allies gathered Sunday, Sept. 22, 2013, at the Torch of Friendship in downtown Miami in support of amending Miami-Dade County's human rights ordinance to include gender identity and expression.

"Transgender rights and this rally here are important today because people matter," said Taylor, who is trans. "There are things such as housing, education and other rights which people take for granted that transgender people are denied."

A gender identity ordinance was introduced in May by Miami-Dade Commissioners Bruno Barreiro and Audrey Edmonson and co-sponsored by Commissioners Barbara Jordan and Sally Heyman.

The plan, which would have amended the county’s existing gay-rights law to ban discrimination in housing, public accommodations and employment based on gender identity or expression, passed 11-1 on first reading. Commission Vice Chairwoman Lynda Bell voted against.

The proposal then went to the commission’s Health and Social Services Committee, comprised of chairwoman Edmonson, Bell, Commissioners Jose "Pepe" Diaz, Jean Monestime and Javier D. Souto.

Co-sponsors pulled the amendment on Aug. 13, when they realized there weren't enough votes to pass in committee.

Vilified after becoming the first transgender high school homecoming queen, Cassidy Lynn Campbell of Huntington Beach, Calif., recorded a sobbing video on her YouTube channel:

i am usually a very strong and confident person, but i have my moments too. although there was alot was positive feedback, there was alot of negative too, and the negative affected me more than it ever has before. i recorded this because i didnt know how else to vent, i didnt want to talk to anybody.

Should fundamentalist groups be allowed to claim that they represent the faithful? Help send the message that faith is about tolerance and treating others as you would like to be treated, not fear and exclusion.

Join us this Sunday, September 22nd at 2PM as SAVE Dade and communities of faith rally at the Torch of Friendship in Bayfront Park in support of an all-inclusive Human Rights Ordinance that works to end discrimination in Miami-Dade County.